Sivakumar emphasised that farmers often find themselves in a structurally disadvantaged position. They purchase agricultural inputs at the tail-end of a long distribution chain, typically at retail prices, and sell their produce at the head of another long chain, usually at wholesale rates. This disjointed system not only erodes farmer margins but also places them at the mercy of inefficiencies and asymmetries in the agri value chain.
Digital Technology as a Systemic Connector
In his address, Sivakumar highlighted the role of digital technologies in bridging this systemic fragmentation. He stated that digital platforms offer a transformative opportunity to unify various stakeholders across the agricultural ecosystem, suppliers, producers, users, and consumers, into a seamless network. This integration can enhance both productivity and sustainability, enabling a continuous, efficient flow of services and information to farmers.
He noted that traditional agricultural extension services tend to rely on broad, generic recommendations regarding crops, fertilisers, and pesticides. However, this “one-size-fits-all” approach often fails to address the nuanced needs of individual farmers. According to him, what farmers truly require are context-specific practices tailored to their unique realities—whether in terms of cash flows, availability of labour, risk-bearing capacity, or market access. These contextual factors render generic “best practices” suboptimal in many real-world settings.
Personalised Advisory as the Future
Drawing a parallel with the personalised experience delivered by platforms like Google, where search results are curated based on user history and location, Sivakumar argued that digital technologies can be harnessed to deliver tailored agronomic advice. These platforms can fill the critical gap left by the physical limitations of extension workers, lead farmers, or agricultural scientists who cannot be omnipresent.
He pointed out that artificial intelligence can play a pivotal role in personalising agricultural support. By leveraging data and AI, digital tools can provide timely, accurate insights into optimal agricultural practices, thereby reducing the burden on manual advisory systems and enabling scaled access to expert knowledge.
Enhancing Climate Resilience and Forecasting
Sivakumar also underlined the potential of digital tools to improve the quality and granularity of climate forecasting. With AI-enabled systems, farmers can receive more accurate predictions regarding key weather parameters such as temperature fluctuations, rainfall distribution, wind patterns, and potential extreme events like hailstorms or sudden downpours. Such advancements can empower farmers to make proactive decisions, reducing the unpredictability associated with farming and enhancing their capacity to withstand climatic shocks.
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He asserted that better forecasting capabilities can shift the farmer’s mindset from one of helplessness to hope, and that this shift is essential for building long-term resilience within the agricultural sector.
Accelerating Agricultural Research through Digital Integration
In addition to field-level advisory and climate resilience, Sivakumar spoke about the implications of digital technologies for agricultural research. He cited the example of root architecture, explaining how traditional research on improving root systems for climate adaptation required resource-intensive processes. Now, with the advent of new imaging technologies and analytical methods, these challenges can be addressed more efficiently.
Digital tools, according to Sivakumar, offer a pathway to reorganise and streamline research, making it possible to breed resilient seed varieties and refine agronomic techniques with greater speed and precision.
In summation, Sivakumar made a compelling case for the integration of digital technologies across the agri value chain—not as a luxury, but as a necessity—to address the persistent gaps in service delivery, information dissemination, and system-wide coordination that farmers continue to face.
